“The trajectory of Horton and The White Horse Inn has been too great to bear in silence. Horton is among those evangelical leaders – like those prone to New Calvinism (even though Horton’s Calvinism is the more traditional kind) – who have undergone seismic paradigm shifts on the nature of Law and Gospel.”
(Pulpit & Pen) Social Religion is spreading throughout American religion like Necrotizing Fasciitis, a dangerous infection that causes tissue death in living bodies. In this case, Social Religion is eating away the Body of Christ. Even the best theologians, like Michael Horton, are completely abandoning the Gospel-commitment they’ve fought their entire careers for, in exchange for sitting at the cool kids’ table of wokeness.
Michael Horton is a professor at Westminster California, editor of Modern Reformation Magazine and co-host of The White Horse Inn. Heretofore, I have never critiqued Horton (as best my memory serves), and until recently The White Horse Inn was on the list of P&P’s recommended resources. The title that Horton holds at Westminster is the “J. Gresham Machen Professor of Theology and Apologetics.”
To be abundantly clear, Horton’s doctrinal drift is as recent as it is noticeable. In fact, it’s as new as the Social Justice bandwagon that has only recently rolled into town. One of the most frustrating things for me about the current Social Religion movement (which is currently called “Social Justice,” but is no different) is that while it is swallowing up evangelical Christianity like the Nothing in the Never Ending Story, the men promoting this Gospel-departure seem blissfully unaware that their positions are new to them.
As my doctrine was reforming more than a decade ago, I tuned in weekly to The White Horse Inn and it was there that I discovered the difference between Law and Gospel (coupled with Chris Rosebrough’s Fighting for the Faith, these podcasts were pivotal in teaching me the difference). I was intrigued that the panel, consisting of Rod Rosenbladt (a Missouri-Synod Lutheran) and its two Reformed co-hosts (Kim Riddlebarger and Michael Horton) were in unanimous agreement upon the Gospel and its definition. Providing clear distinctions between the Law and Gospel has been a central theme of the The White Horse Inn for years, to their commendation.
Research:
3 Ways Michael Horton Has Failed Us
Same-sex attraction – Michael Horton interviews Sam Allberry